Executive Flight isn't fussy
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Executive Flight brings good form to Sunday's $125,000 Victoriana Stakes, and she should be formidable in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for Ontario-sired fillies and mares.
Trainer Darwin Banach sent out Executive Flight to finish a closing second to Canadian champion Financingavailable in last year's Victoriana.
"The fractions were pretty slow, and Financingavailable ran away on us," Banach recalled. "She made a nice move and passed everybody else."
Executive Flight has stuck to the Polytrack this year. She ran third in the six-furlong Ballade and subsequently won the open Sweet Briar Too over seven furlongs. She's exiting a third-place finish behind graded stakes winner Sugar Swirl and Lucas Street in the six-furlong Scotzanna.
"I've been pointing her for this race," Banach said. "She's doing very well. I think she's equally good on both surfaces. She can go short or long. She's very versatile."
Banach said he believes jockey Chantal Sutherland suits the quirky Executive Flight very well.
"She's a smart old girl, and just does what she has to do," said Banach of his 5-year-old mare. "One morning, she can work five-eighths in a minute, and the next, she might not make time. We don't get too worried or excited, either way. Chantal's been on her for most of her works, and has gotten to know her. Sometimes, she'll switch leads, and sometimes she won't. She's run some of her best races without switching her leads. We just let her do her thing."
London Snow got caught on the wire for second in last year's Victoriana, which was the highlight of an 0-for-6 campaign. London Snow has rebounded nicely this year, winning 2 of 3 starts, including the Ballade. She checked in two lengths behind Executive Flight in the Scotzanna, after being blocked behind a wall of runners early in the stretch.
You Will Love Me, a triple stakes winner in 2007, has failed to hit the board in three outings this year. She should be prominent from the outset in her first start with Lasix.
Fintona came up a nose short in 1 1/4-mile allowance in her second start of the year July 5.